Columbia Pike Closed Due to Water Main Break

Columbia Pike is closed in both directions between S. Thomas Street and Wakefield Street due to a water main break.

The closure will last throughout the morning rush hour, according to Arlington Alerts, and drivers are asked to seek alternate routes. The closure is also apparently having an impact on bus service — long lines at bus stops have been observed on eastbound Columbia Pike.

Update at 2:55 p.m. — Arlington County says Columbia Pike should be reopened by 4:00 p.m., in time for the evening rush hour. From Arlington Alerts:

Columbia Pike at S. Thomas St. will reopen to traffic in both directions for the evening rush hour by 4 p.m. Crews completed repairs on this morning’s 8″ water main break, however, they will need to repair a second leak in the vicinity at a later date.

If the streetcar were running, wouldn’t this be a massive electrocution danger?

B22201

Yep, those streetcars will only be running on bright sunny days with 0% chance of rain.

The Doge

Perhaps we should have Gondolas instead?

Trev

There’s a short cut via the McDonald’s drive thru where you can get a happy ending

Douglas Parker

Ouch, that’s going to snarl traffic. Any word on when they might have it wrapped up?

JnA

Bust Rapid Transit? What’s that? What does that Vegas ACE bus my neighbor rode when he and his wife visited Vegas look like? How long would service be disrupted if there were a water main break with streetcar tracks and overhead wires?

Pablo

This really does point to why you do NOT want a Streetcar. Buses can be re-routed in cases such as this….Streetcars cannot. Of course Zimmerman has no conflict of interest here so he can view this incident as to why they should not spend $$$$ on infrastructure that is not necessary and is expensive to maintain. Although he may not get as big of a bonus from his consulting job if that is the case.

DB

Buses can be brought in to shuttle people around when the streetcar is blocked. .

Buckingham Beauty

And for that to work, enough spare rolling stock would have to be kept on hand solely for the purpose of backing up the streetcar. And that would have to be enough to transport the same number of people as the streetcar. So, why not just stick with buses?

Josh S

Spare rolling stock? When was the last time you drove by the bus yard down by the water treatment plant? There are always buses parked there. Spare rolling stock. As if you are some sort of transportation engineering genius and no one has ever run a large public transportation agency before. Good grief, get over yourself.

Barticus

@Buckingham Beauty: Apparently we must stock a fleet of reliable but unglamous buses to backstop the gleaming streetcar’s delicate needs.

To answer your question, why not just use buses in the first place? It’s too rational an answer. Besides, there wouldn’t be ribbon cutting ceremony.

RTK

Well the nice new pavement we waited for over 2 years to get lasted all of a couple months before it will be returned to its natural Beirut bombed out self…. Eagerly awaiting 2015 before we can enjoy another 90 days of a smooth commute.

Buckingham Beauty

DANG, was that a long snarl. 25-minute bus ride became 65. 30 minutes just to detour down Four Mile Run and back up George Mason to the Pike. Ugh.

Columbia Pk Resident

What is the reason for all the road construction at Columbia Pike and 4 mile run intersection? Is there gold underneath the road? It is taking a toll on my car’s suspension. I was so happy when they finally re-paved it, only to be horrified when I saw several new patches that were done haphazardly.
Also is our tax money being used to pave the road, only to have it be destroyed a short time later?
Something needs to be done to prevent this from continuing.

John K

New sewage lines on one side and correction of their previous lack of homework from when they went to put the power lines underground and then realized oh hey… there’s stuff in the way here.